The Family Business
by Clarabell27
Summary: Set about 9 years after the end of S5. Ben tells his tale in a bar. Spoilers all the way up to the end of S5, and kind of S6. Couple of minor swears. Mainly dialogue. First story after writer's block, please be nice! Or at least constructive!


**Disclaimer – **Not mine, sadly never will be.

**A/N **– Wow, I've been away for ages! I had major writer's block but I think the new season starting has knocked me out of it. So excited! Anyway, this is probably rubbish as it was written _very_ quickly, but I needed to start writing again and thought this was as good a place to start as any. Plus I wanted to get it on here before the new episode rendered it obsolete. It's also almost all dialogue which I've never done before. Please be kind!

**A/N 2** – I swear I had the whole contruction job, hall rug thing in my head before I saw the promo. I saw that and was like, 'I totally called it!'

**The Family Business**

"Two more over here..." Ben signalled to the bartender, who a moment later bought over a couple of beers, taking the empties back to the bar. Ben took a swig from his bottle as his companion nudged him playfully.

"So... you were telling me how it started for you." The pretty brunette sitting next to him reminded him. "You know all about my sad story, your turn now." She smiled at him.

"You probably wouldn't believe half of it," Ben laughed, "although as a fellow hunter I guess you might believe the other half."

The girl laughed. "Go on. I've seen enough by now to believe almost anything."

Ben took another swig of his beer and a deep breath...

"I guess it really started about twelve years ago, on my eighth birthday."

The girl raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Eight years old? I thought I was young!"

"I didn't get into it myself until a few years later, but it was my eighth birthday when I found out there were things hiding in the dark I'd always been told didn't exist."

"Pretty shitty birthday present."

"You could say that. There was this whole thing with changelings. Kids were being taken from the neighbourhood, but obviously no one knew what was happening. The night of my birthday I remember this...this thing climbing through my window. It snatched me and kept me trapped in this cage in a half-built house. I was so scared, and I knew how worried my mom would be. I was only in there a few hours though, before my dad and his brother rescued me and the other kids."

"Your dad?"

"Yeah it's kinda complicated. He wasn't my dad at that point, he was just this dude who'd turned up at my birthday party. Would you believe I was sixteen before I asked him why he'd been there? And of course he told me. Could've done without finding out about _that_ side of my mom.

"So anyways, my dad saved me and the other kids. He explained a little as he was taking me home about what had happened, told me to look after my mom, then he left. My mom was sad for a few days after he went, I kinda figured she wanted him to stick around too.

"That was the last I saw of him 'till about three years after that."

"Three years? So this guy just sweeps in to your life, saves the day and disappears for three years?"

"Yeah, the couple of times I asked my mom if she knew what he was up to, she just told me he had other people to help, like he'd helped us. I found out later he did a hell of a lot of sweeping and day saving."

"He was a hunter." The girl stated it as a fact, not a question.

"The best." Ben grinned, taking another swig.

"So you're eight years old, you find out monsters are real. Then what? You don't start hunting at eight."

"No, but the idea was there. Do you remember about nine years ago, we were just kids then, but for a few months there was a lot of really crazy shit going on. I mean, more than usual?"

"Course I remember. My uncle told me back then it was the apocalypse, but the world's still here so I guess he was exaggerating. And I was just a little girl, I probably remember it worse than it was."

"He wasn't exactly wrong. And you're remembering just fine." Ben grinned as his companion processed the truth.

"I remember there was a couple of weeks where my mom got real quiet. She'd jump at shadows. I'd see her scouring the newspapers, watching all the crazy stuff on the TV. She knew something. Anyhow, not long after it all stopped my dad turned up again, but he was different y'know? Like a vet just back from a tour. And he was sad for a long time.

"He moved in with my mom and me, got a job in construction, drove me to baseball and for a while things were calm. I mean, he'd been raised a hunter so there were still devil's traps under the hall rug, hex bags in the basement, that kinda thing. He never explained properly what everything was, just that it was to protect us. I think he was still trying to keep us away from that part of his life, he was trying to move on. And he tried, he really did. Especially once my mom came clean about me.

"So we lived like that for a while, happy normal family with anti-demon sigils carved into the window frames. Then his brother shows up out of the blue, supposedly dead but clearly not. Once that happened I could tell he got the itch again. He fought it, tried to let my uncle go and handle it all himself, but he just got pulled back in again.

"So they'd go off for a couple of days, maybe a week, on a hunt, but this time he'd always come back. I know he was worried about our safety, about how my mom would handle it all, but she'd known about his past when she took him in. I think part of her was always expecting him to leave, so she was just glad he kept coming home. Plus, she was a hell of a lot tougher than he gave her credit for.

"Of course as I got older I wanted to know more. It all seemed so exciting y'know? And when you think your dad has the coolest job in the world you grow up wanting to do the same."

"So you went into the family business?"

"Not without a fight I'll tell ya. I was always asking him questions, I must have been so freakin' annoying, just following him 'round constantly bugging him about it. He'd tell me little things, in the hope it would shut me up. But you know what they say about a little knowledge being a dangerous thing."

"You wanted to know more." The brunette nodded in understanding.

"I was 13 years old when I snuck out to follow him on a hunt." Ben laughed as the girl's eyebrows lifted in amusement.

"How'd that go down?"

"He was _maaad_! Although that's nothing to how my mom reacted. She told me I was grounded until I was 40 and she blamed my dad for putting ideas in my head. I soon made it clear I wasn't going to change my mind, it was what I wanted to do. My mom would find cases I'd been researching and working on. I think deep down she'd been expecting it, she'd seen how I idolised my dad, and I think she kinda resigned herself to it. She was so worried I'd just take myself off, she eventually agreed for my dad to train me, teach me the trade as it were, on the condition I not sneak off to try and find a hunt. And I stuck to it. Mostly." Ben smirked

"When I was 16 my dad took me on my first proper hunt. Just a run of the mill haunting, mothing risky, but man was I excited. Helped him out on hunts pretty regularly after that, up until about a year ago..." Ben drifted off.

"You're not still hunting together?"

"There was an attack." Ben stared at his beer bottle, absently picking at the label. "Demons hit a fill up joint as my mom and dad were getting gas for her car. There was a huge explosion. The news said it was an accident, but the demons knew they were there."

"Oh my god. I think I remember that... yeah I saw the news report, remember my uncle talking about the hunter who'd been killed." Her eyes widened, "wait a sec, you're dad was Dean Winchester?"

Ben nodded.

"Man, I'm so sorry. Heard he was pretty legendary."

"Legendary doesn't really cover it." He laughed, draining his beer.

"Listen, you want to get out of here?" The brunette smiled at Ben as she slid off her stool.

"Sorry sweetheart, I'd love to but I got somewhere to be." Ben shrugged into a battered and familiar leather jacket, "Got to some folks to go meet, not seen them in a while. Great to meet you though." He flashed her a killer grin as he headed for the parking lot, and she tried not to look too disappointed.

Sat in the Impala's front seat, Ben took out his phone a speed dialled.

"Hey Dad, on my way now. You need me to pick up anything... ok, Mom need anything?...Fine, see you soon. Hey, by the way, your story still seems to be sticking. I was just talking to this hunter chick...what? Totally, but yeah she'd heard of the famous Dean Winchester and that he was just as famously dead. In fact, every hunter I've seen in the last few weeks seems under the same impression...that's what I thought. Ok Dad, see you in a few."

Dean put the phone down and turned to smile at Lisa as she handed him his beer.

"Ben's on his way. And he's bringing pie."

Lisa laughed. "So how's my son doing?"

"Says every hunter he's spoken to is buying the story. We're both pretty dead."

"Looks like the angels are keeping us pretty well hidden after all. So where was he when he was finding out about all this?"

"Chatting up some hunter chick in a bar. Sounded pretty hot." Dean grinned proudly.

Lisa rolled her eyes.

"Sheesh," she laughed, "like father like son I guess."

**A/N 3** – So that's it. I've thought about doing some more chapters (less dialogue heavy) that fill in the blanks of things hinted at in here, show things from other's POV but I don't know. There's a lot unexplained. Thoughts? Comments?


End file.
